SHARI'A VIOLATIONS IN GOLD TRADING AND THEIR CONTEMPORARY FORMS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52747/aqujssis.5.01.331Keywords:
Shari'a violations, gold trading, weight manipulation, hallmarking gold productsAbstract
Islamic law categorically prohibits usury (riba) due to its socioeconomic harm, while permitting gold-for-gold exchanges under specific conditions: equivalence in measurement and immediate exchange during the contract session. The Islamic legal framework has established comprehensive consumer protections by mandating that transactions satisfy needs while adhering to prescribed standards. Despite its profitability, the gold trade frequently exhibits multiple Shari'a violations, including deferred gold sales and weight misrepresentation, necessitating regulatory controls to safeguard transacting parties. This research addresses the critical need to identify contemporary manifestations of Shari'a violations in gold commerce and their adverse impacts on individuals and communities. The research problem stems from widespread market participation without adequate understanding of Islamic commercial jurisprudence, resulting in numerous regulatory infractions. Employing a descriptive-analytical methodology, this study aims to systematically document and analyze Shari'a violations in contemporary gold trading practices. Key findings indicate that gold transactions occur either through direct raw gold sales or indirectly through financial market mechanisms. Weight manipulation constitutes fraudulent practice and violates core principles of commercial equity. The research establishes the necessity of hallmarking gold products and maintaining proper transaction documentation as both religious and regulatory imperatives. While exchanging old gold for new is permissible with appropriate valuations, immediate-for-deferred gold exchanges remain prohibited to prevent interest-based transactions. Scholarly consensus maintains that same-category exchanges must demonstrate both equivalence and simultaneity. The study methodically examines violations including weight falsification, gemstone setting practices, absence of hallmarking, arbitrary pricing structures, problematic exchanges between new and used gold, and emerging forms of non-compliance in modern gold markets.
Downloads
References
Al-Azharī, Ṣāliḥ ibn ʻAbd al-Samīʻ. Al-Thamar al-dānī sharḥ Risālat Ibn Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī (The Low-Hanging Fruit: Explanation of Ibn Abi Zayd al-Qayrawani's Treatise). Beirut: Al-Maktabah al-Thaqāfīyah, 2nd ed., 1989.
Al-Bābartī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd. Al-ʻInāyah sharḥ al-Hidāyah (The Care: Explanation of the Guidance). Dār al-Fikr, 1st ed., 1990.
Al-Buhūtī, Manṣūr ibn Yūnus. Daqāʼiq ulī al-nuhá li-sharḥ al-Muntahá al-maʻrūf bi-Sharḥ Muntahá al-Irādāt (Subtleties for Those of Understanding in Explaining the Ultimate, Known as the Explanation of the Ultimate of Desires). ʻĀlam al-Kutub, 1st ed., 1993.
Al-Bukhārī, Muḥammad ibn Ismāʻīl. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (Bukhari's Authentic Collection). Dār Ṭawq al-Najāh, 1st ed., 1422H.
Al-Dhahab māhīyatuhu wa-wāqiʻuhu (Gold: Its Nature and Reality). Group of scholars. Dār al-Fikr, 2nd ed., 1994.
Al-Duwaysh, Al-Lajnah al-Dāʼimah lil-Buḥūth al-ʻIlmīyah wa-al-Iftāʼ (Permanent Committee for Scientific Research and Ifta). Compiled by Aḥmad ibn ʻAbd al-Razzāq. Fatāwá al-Lajnah al-Dāʼimah - al-Majmūʻah al-ūlá (Fatwas of the Permanent Committee - First Collection), 2009.
Al-Fāsī, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan. Al-Fikr al-sāmī fī tārīkh al-fiqh al-Islāmī (The Elevated Thought in the History of Islamic Jurisprudence). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah, 1st ed., 1995.
Al-Gharābīlī, Muḥammad ibn Qāsim ibn Qāsim. Fatḥ al-qarīb al-mujīb fī sharḥ alfāẓ al-Taqrīb (The Opening of the Near Answerer in Explaining the Words of the Approximation). Beirut: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, 1st ed., 2005.
Al-Ḥamawī, Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Kinānī al-Shāfiʻī. Taḥrīr al-aḥkām fī tadbīr ahl al-Islām (Verification of Rulings in Governing the People of Islam). Doha: Dār al-Thaqāfah Qatar, 3rd ed., 1988.
Al-Ḥaṭṭāb, Shams al-Dīn Abū ʻAbd Allāh al-Ṭarābulusī. Mawāhib al-jalīl fī sharḥ Mukhtaṣar Khalīl (Gifts of the Majestic in Explaining Khalil's Compendium). Dār al-Fikr, 3rd ed., 1992.
Al-Kāsānī, ʻAlāʼ al-Dīn, Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī. Badāʼiʻ al-ṣanāʼiʻ fī tartīb al-sharāʼiʻ (Wonders of Crafts in the Arrangement of Laws). Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah, 2nd ed., 1986.
Al-Nawawī, Muḥyī al-Dīn Yaḥyá ibn Sharaf. Al-Minhāj sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj (The Method: Explanation of Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj's Authentic Collection). Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʼ al-Turāth al-ʻArabī, 2nd ed., 1392H.
Al-Qalyūbī, Aḥmad Salāmah, and Aḥmad al-Burlusī ʻUmayrah. Ḥāshiyatā Qalyūbī wa-ʻUmayrah (Glosses of Qalyubi and Umayrah). Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1995.
Al-Qurṭubī, Muḥammad ibn Rushd al-Qurṭubī. Bidāyat al-mujtahid wa-nihāyat al-muqtaṣid (The Beginning for the Expert and the End for the Moderate). Cairo: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 2004.
Al-Qurṭubī, Muḥammad ibn Rushd. Al-Bayān wa-al-taḥṣīl (The Clarification and Attainment). Beirut: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 2nd ed., 1988.
Al-Qurṭubī, Yūsuf ibn ʻAbd Allāh. Al-Kāfī fī fiqh ahl al-Madīnah (The Sufficient in the Jurisprudence of the People of Medina). Riyadh: Maktabat al-Riyāḍ al-Ḥadīthah, 2nd ed., 1980.
Al-Sarakhsī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad (d. 483H). Al-Mabsūṭ (The Extensive). Beirut: Dār al-Maʻrifah, 1993.
Al-Shīrāzī, Ibrāhīm ibn ʻAlī ibn Yūsuf. Al-Muhadhdhab fī fiqh al-Imām al-Shāfiʻī (The Refined in the Jurisprudence of Imam al-Shafi'i). Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah, 2nd ed., 1998.
Al-Sibr, Saʻd ibn ʻAbd Allāh. Al-ʻAqd bil-kitābah wa-al-ishārah wa-ālāt al-ittiṣāl al-ḥadīthah (Contract by Writing, Gesture, and Modern Communication Tools). Edition of 1429H.
Al-ʻUthaymīn, Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ ibn Muḥammad. Al-Fatāwá al-dhahabīyah fī bayʻ wa-shirāʼ al-dhahab (Golden Fatwas on Buying and Selling Gold), 1990.
Al-Zabīdī, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. Tāj al-ʻarūs min jawāhir al-qāmūs (The Bride's Crown from the Jewels of the Dictionary). Dār al-Hidāyah, 3rd ed., 1992.
Al-Zaylaʻī, ʻUthmān ibn ʻAlī Fakhr al-Dīn. Tabyīn al-ḥaqāʼiq sharḥ Kanz al-daqāʼiq (Clarification of Truths: Explanation of the Treasure of Subtleties). Cairo: Al-Maṭbaʻah al-Kubrá al-Amīrīyah, Bulaq, 1st ed., 1313H.
Anas, Mālik ibn Anas. Al-Mudawwanah (The Corpus). Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah, 1st ed., 1994.
Ibn Bāz, Hind bint ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz. Bayʻ al-dhahab bil-ājil wa-ṣuwarihi al-muʻāṣirah (Selling Gold on Credit and Its Contemporary Forms). Research paper presented to the Research Excellence Center. Imam University, 2004.
Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram ibn ʻAlī. Lisān al-ʻArab (The Arab Tongue). Beirut: Dār Ṣādir, 3rd ed., 1414H.
Ibn Qudāmah, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān al-Maqdisī. Al-Sharḥ al-kabīr ʻalá matn al-Muqniʻ (The Great Explanation on the Text of the Persuader). Dār al-Kitāb al-ʻArabī, 1st ed., 1994.
Ibn Qudāmah, Muwaffaq al-Dīn ʻAbd Allāh. Al-Mughnī (The Enricher). Cairo: Maktabat al-Qāhirah, 1968.
Ibn Qudāmah, Muwaffaq al-Dīn. Al-Kāfī fī fiqh al-Imām Aḥmad (The Sufficient in the Jurisprudence of Imam Ahmad). Dār al-Kutub al-ʻIlmīyah, 1st ed., 1994.
Madá mashrūʻīyat al-mutājarah fī al-dhahab ʻan ṭarīq al-Fūriks (The Extent of Legality of Trading Gold Through Forex). Islam Web Fatwas, Fatwa No. 126193, 2009.
Miʻyār Ayyūfī al-Sharʻī raqm (57) al-dhahab wa-ḍawābiṭ al-taʻāmul bihi (AAOIFI Sharia Standard No. 57: Gold and Its Trading Controls). World Gold Council, 1995.
Muḥyī al-Dīn Yaḥyá ibn Sharaf. Al-Majmūʻ sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab (The Collection: Explanation of the Refined). Dār al-Fikr, 1st ed., 2000.
Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj. Al-Musnad al-ṣaḥīḥ al-mukhtaṣar bi-naql al-ʻadl ʻan al-ʻadl ilá Rasūl Allāh ṣallá Allāh ʻalayhi wa-sallam (The Authentic Concise Collection of Narrations Through Just Narrators to the Messenger of Allah). Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʼ al-Turāth al-ʻArabī, 1st ed., 1996.
Niẓām al-maʻādin al-thamīnah wa-al-aḥjār al-karīmah wa-lāʼiḥatihi al-tanfīdhīyah (System of Precious Metals and Gemstones and Its Executive Regulations). Royal Decree No. (M/42) dated 10/7/1403H, 1st ed.
Sulaymān, ʻAbd Allāh ibn Sulaymān. Al-Waraq al-naqdī tārīkhuhu- ḥaqīqatuhu- qīmatuhu- ḥukmuhu (Paper Money: Its History, Reality, Value, and Ruling). 1st ed., 1404H.
